Last night my sisters car was stolen from the driveway whilst parked next to my own. It is a fairly old car, and my sister doesn't actually drive yet, so it wasn't insured, taxed or MOT'd, and had been declared off the road until she has passed her test.

Obviously, we contacted the police, who were very helpful and took down all the details. This afternoon we got a telephone call from them to say they'd found the car nearby with hardly any damage. All that was wrong was that the ignition was obviously damaged where they'd hot-wired it. We thought, great, we've got the car back. We were then informed that it had been taken to a garage where it would wait until tomorrow for forensic to take a look. This is obviously a good thing.

However, we were then informed that for finding the car, the police were charging us £105, and the garage were charging £38 for picking it up and then another £35 per night to keep it after forensic have taken a look. The problem is, we can't collect it as it's been declared as off-the-road (so illegal to drive), and the police would charge us again for the privilege of driving it back! Then of course, we'll have to pay to have the ignition fixed, and there's no guarantee that the thieves wouldn't come back and take it again. So all in all, because some kids wanted to take the car for a joy-ride, we're going to have to fork out a load of money.

Now, under normal circumstances I assume the insurance would cover this cost. But obviously because we now have to fill out one of the governments off-road forms, we didn't insure it because it wasn't being used, and thus there was no point in spending upwards of £1000. The worst part is, the police themselves are charging us a finders-fee! Where does our tax money go?!

So the victim has to pay.

Has anything like this happened to anyone else when someone else has been at fault?

DVDs and Stuff.net
"I would like to say hello to my parents and my Shoalin Master, but they are all dead"

Hmm I can understand that you would need to pay to get it repaired/towed and stored but "we were then informed that for finding the car, the police were charging us £105", I know that the Uk is a prime example of a user pays society, but that seems a bit rough.

They haven't told us how they found it yet. So if someone else had found the car and reported it to the police, the police haven't actually done anything but go somewhere somebody told them to.

I too can understand the bit about the towing and storage, but it's the fact that we can't do anything about it which is most bothersome, and the fact we didn't ask the police to move it. Apparently it wasn't causing an obstruction, but they moved it without consulting us anyway.

We can't drive it home because it's been declared off the road. So either we pay the police some more to bring it back to the house, or we let it sit there and pay the garage by the day. The only way we could collect it ourselves would be to get it taxed. But you can't get it taxed unless it's insured and passed it's MOT. And it can't pass it's MOT test because they've broken the ignition (and the back brakes didn't work very well anyway).

It might just be worth telling them to keep it (as I said, it is a fairly old car)

DVDs and Stuff.net
"I would like to say hello to my parents and my Shoalin Master, but they are all dead"

I got my car stolen a few years back here in New Zealand, the police found it and asked me to pick it up, I told them it wasn't legal, they said it's ok if I just drove it straight home.... I am not sure if the police are as leanient (sp) in the UK, did they actually say you couldn't drive it home?.

My old co-worker had his car stolen. He reported it. A couple weeks later he recieved a parking ticket in the mail, dated after the car was reported stolen. He had to argue with them so they wouldn't make him pay the fine. He was just pissed they didn't get his car back for him.

If there is only one God, and he is the top of the chain of command in life, where did he come from?

I cannot see how the police can be justified in charging you a 'finders fee" Its disgusting!!

I would tell them to keep the car, why should you pay for it!!
You didnt ask it to be stolen and if its not in great condition and you can better afford to spend that money on a better car for your sister, then thats what I would do........

Here in New Zealand, the police here are great when your car is recovered.
If they recover it and think there are forensic opportunities, then they will have it towed and checked over, then you do have to pay tow and storage costs.
But if they dont think they will get any prints off it, they attempt to contact you and only if they cant get you will they organise it to be towed.
I dont think I have ever heard of our cops asking for a "finders fee"

I think you should take your story to the tabloids myself..............I'm sure they would love to make a public spectacle of the situation.
I would also be jumping up and down and making a big deal of it to those officers superior's.............

Please refrain from PM'ing me for support unless I specifically ask you to.......

Well it seems that we had been tricked, so the first thing I would like to do is apologise to the police.

It turns out that we had been lied to. We contacted the police to argue our case, and were told that it was the first time they had ever heard of such a thing. It turns out that this 'standard finders fee' as we were told was simply the garage trying to make some extra money from us! They obviously don't normally have people complain to the police about the matter!

Here in New Zealand, the police here are great when your car is recovered.
If they recover it and think there are forensic opportunities, then they will have it towed and checked over, then you do have to pay tow and storage costs.

That's what's happened here, although if I'm honest it would have been nicer if they would have asked us first. Apparently the car wasn't causing an obstruction, so they could have simply left it. It turns out it was just around the corner, so if we'd have known about the cost at the time, we could have gone and picked it up ourselves without even bothering the police in the first place.

Well anyway, the cost has now been halved thanks to this. So it's a good job we followed it up. It seems, therefore, that this thread has been started in complete error! Thanks for everyone's comments anyway!

(Bloody garages!)

DVDs and Stuff.net
"I would like to say hello to my parents and my Shoalin Master, but they are all dead"

Quite possibly, but it's my sisters car and she says she just wants to get it over with. I can't blame her for that, although I know a few choice words have been said. I think that's as far as she's going to go with it. Hopefully now that the police have been made aware of what they've been doing, something may be done about it, and they won't try it again.

I think the real lesson here is that if your car is ever stolen in Derby, have a look for it yourself!

DVDs and Stuff.net
"I would like to say hello to my parents and my Shoalin Master, but they are all dead"